The building’s windows are boarded up. Varying shades of white and unmatched paint cover graffiti and highlight cracks in the property’s exterior.
This is the historic
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The first known Japanese immigrants arrived in
Local advocates and historians have for years sought to preserve the historic property — now owned by
And in recent weeks, the public has reignited their efforts to protect this piece of land after a
Police said they “have no reason to believe” the fire was intentionally set.
On
“It set everyone into panic mode, because there actually was a loss,” said
Urashima, who has written extensively about the history of Wintersburg, said she long feared the property would catch fire and said the buildings’ loss was “demolition by neglect.” Weeds and brush posed a fire risk, and vandalism had degraded the condition of the buildings. Urashima and others hope
Neither
The property encapsulates three generations of Japanese Americans’ faith and public life. Urashima said Japanese immigrants took English language classes and discussed financial planning, even as they continued Japanese traditions such as celebrating the emperor’s birthday. It’s also where Furuta became the first Japanese person baptized as Christian in
To Urashima, this place is “consecrated ground and a spiritual place for so many.”
“I think that makes the ground sacred,” she added.
Urashima said the property could offer Americans the opportunity to learn about Japanese American life beyond the World War II-era internment camps and see that Japanese American history is not “one dimensional.”
“When you remove these things from the landscape that tell other views, other chapters of American history, people lose that connection, and they don’t often consider them part of American history,” Urashima said. “It fades away.”
The Wintersburg community was incarcerated during World War II, and Furuta was taken to the
To
Her coalition works to raise awareness about the history of the station, which held Japanese Americans the
“There’s a saying, ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’” Oda said. “People sometimes don’t want to recognize this great loss of human liberty … They take away your church. They take away your home, your business, everything that you have.”
The Historic Wintersburg property is considered one of “America’s Most Endangered Historic Places” and in 2015 was designated a “National Treasure” by the
Hiber said the
“Even after the fire, it’s a spiritual place. It’s already a destination of pilgrimage for not just Japanese Americans, but the Japanese people in general,” Hiber said.
“The family came back after (internment) to occupy that space and created it into something new and applicable to their experience after the war and coming back from the internment camp,” she said. “Just walking the perimeter … you feel it; you feel the history.”
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